Interesting quotes

On topics:
Violence, Wisdom & Youth

Violence & non-violence:

Anon - Jain proverb: "Non-violence ' in thought, word and deed '
is the highest form of religion."

Thomas Edison: "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics,
which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other
living beings, we are still savages."

Mahatma Gandhi:

"An eye for an eye and the whole world
goes blind."

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"

Sam Harris: "Religious violence
still plagues our world because our religions are intrinsically hostile
to one another. Where they appear otherwise, it is because secular
knowledge and secular interests have restrained the most lethal
improprieties of faith. If religious war is ever to become unthinkable
for us, in the way that slavery and cannibalism seem poised to, it will
be a matter of our having dispensed with the dogma of faith. [Harris
is the author of "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future
of Reason"]

Dr. David Liepert, author of "Muslim, Christian and Jew." All of us think that our religion is 'good' and that those in apparent (and often politically motivated) opposition to it are 'bad.' But the real truth is that all of our religions are equally guilty of being used to promote violence, and-thanks to centuries of political manipulation that have distorted the way we read our holy books -- all of us are equally guilty of not following what our religions really say. ..."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The ultimate weakness of
violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it
seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies
it...Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder
hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate....Returning violence for
violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already
devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Michael Newdow: "People don't simply wake up one day and
commit genocide. They start by setting themselves apart from others,
diminishing the stature of those adhering to dissenting beliefs in
small, insidious steps. They begin by saying, 'We're the righteous, and
we'll tolerate those others.' And as the toleration diminishes over
time, the inevitable harms are overlooked. It is for that reason that
James Madison wisely wrote that 'it is proper to take alarm at the first
experiment on our liberties'." 1

Reinhold Niebuhr: "The chief source of man's inhumanity to man
seems to be the tribal limits of his sense of obligation to other men."

Bertrand Russell:

"The
reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly, I
think, because it is so gratifying to our sadistic impulses."

"War does not determine who is right, only who is left."

H.R.H. Prince El Hassan bin Talal:
"Throughout history, religious differences have divided men and women
from their neighbors and have served as justification for some of
humankind's bloodiest conflicts. In the modern world, it has become
clear that people of all religions must bridge these differences and
work together, to ensure our survival and realize the vision of peace
that all faiths share."

Voltaire: "As long as people believe in
absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."

Wisdom:

Anon: "A Native American elder once described his own
inner struggles in this manner: 'Inside of me there are two dogs. One of
the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights
the good dog all the time.' When asked which dog wins, he reflected for
a moment and replied, 'The one I feed the most'."

Anon: "There is an Indian belief that everyone is in a house of four
rooms: A physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual room. Most of us
tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room
everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete."

Albert Einstein: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is
the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom
this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt
in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

Mahatma Gandhi: "Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you,
apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest
woman whom you have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is
going to be of any use to her. Will she gain anything by it? Will it
restore her to a control over her own life and destiny? In other words,
will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
Then you will find your doubts and yourself melting away."

Bertrand Russell: "The problem with the wise is they are so filled with doubts
while the dull are so certain."

Woodrow Wilson: "One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty
councils. The thing is to supply light and not heat."

Youth:

Boy Scouts of America: membership form: "The Boy Scouts of America maintain that no member can grow into the best kind
of citizen without recognizing his obligation to God."

Editorial, New York Times: 1993-DEC-12: "...Any organization could profit from a 10-year-old member with enough
strength of character to refuse to swear falsely." (This was in
response to the Boy Scouts' refusal of membership to Mark Welsh, who
would not sign a religious oath that went against his beliefs.)

Footnote:

Michael Newdow, "Judge Roy Moore Deserves Jail. How is this
in any way different from David Koresh's refusal to abide by the commands of the
federal agents in Waco?," Beliefnet.com, 2003-AUG, at:
http://www.beliefnet.com/